No Going Back
by Veil of Shadows
Summary: Change can be a frightening thing. But the best thing to do is to accept it and move on. Because no matter how profound the differences, the most important things always stay the same. [RavenxBeast Boy, discontinued]


-1_I don't get it. Why doesn't she want to go back?_

_Does she really not like me anymore?_

_I almost wish she'd died fighting Slade. Then at least I'd know she'd been a hero to the end._

_Does she really not want to go back? Or does she not remember? Is she even Terra?_

_I guess...it doesn't really matter in the end._

_She's not coming back. At least, not in the right way._

_She's not coming back._

_"Things change," she told me. She's right. Things do change. Things _have _changed._

Everything's_ changed_.

"One last time," he promised himself, as he trudged deeper into the cave. "This is the last."

Never mind that he'd said the same thing five times already.

"Hi, Terra," he said automatically, even though the statue was gone. Even though the girl it had encased was somewhere completely different.

Even if she didn't want to talk to him anymore.

It wasn't that he was brooding, really. Quite simply, a feverish energy had overtaken him in the days following...well, you know. He had to walk.

And his feet, somehow, had taken him here.

_Why_s buzzed around in his head like angry hornets. _Why doesn't she want to come back? Why doesn't she remember? Why doesn't she want to remember? Why doesn't she--_

_"She doesn't want to see you anymore."_

Beast Boy punched the wall. Hard.

He'd cut his hand open, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care. He pulled back his fist again--

"Don't."

It was Raven.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said dryly.

"How did you--"

"Where else would you be?" She moved smoothly towards him, almost gliding. "Beast Boy, I'm--" a pause, inscrutable look in her eyes-- "sorry."

"Why doesn't she like me anymore?" he asked, half to himself.

"You don't know that she doesn't. Maybe she just doesn't want to face...all this."

"You'd think...that if she was brave enough to stand up to Slade, she'd be brave enough to come back."

"Beast Boy--" She reached out, and for a second, her fingertips grazed his shoulder--but then she pulled away. "There are all kinds of courage."

No answer.

"Let me see that hand."

He gave it to her. She traced the cuts with her fingers. Energy flowed from them, healing his hand

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"It was nothing." Raven gave him a long look, then added, "Want to go out for pizza?"

No response.

"Beast Boy--"

Silence.

"Beast Boy, look at me."

He turned.

"Brooding solves nothing," she said quietly. "You won't accomplish anything by just dwelling on your emotions. Come on."

She put her arm around him, guiding him towards the exit. There was something strange--surprisingly gentle--about Raven's words and gestures, but it was not until they stepped out into the night that Beast Boy realized--they both realized--that something had changed. Something between them that had before been in one category had finally completed the slow but definite shift to another.

Raven dropped her arm. "Let's go," she said, and the meal they shared was the quietest they'd had in a long while.

_I think it was after the Malchior thing, when it all started to change. I mean, it was kinda like the same thing--Raven's on the couch, I tell her one of my incredible jokes, she says I'm not funny and goes back to her book..._

_But then again, it's not. After that, sometimes, I swear she was smiling behind that book of hers. No, really. She's got this look when she--you can tell, it's something around the eyebrows--don't look at me like that! She _is

_One day, I'm going to make her laugh._

_See if I don't._

_But I don't like her like that. Really, I don't. I liked--I _like _Terra. And Raven's not Terra._

Really_ not Terra._

_And even if I did like her (I don't), and she liked me (she doesn't), it wouldn't be a good idea. I mean, what if it didn't work out? Teams _break up _over that kind of thing, you know. I wouldn't want that to happen to us. We're the Teen Titans, and we always will be._

_I won't let _that _change._


End file.
